To Prologue or Not To Prologue? MFRWAuthor 2018 Week 42

I’m not a particular fan of prologues or epilogues. I think if something is vital to the story, it should be included in the story proper. There are some exceptions to this, of course. In my book The Vampire’s Daughter, there is a prologue, but that is because that “chapter,” gives a backstory separate from the main characters and main action of the story. Basically, when I got done writing the book, I thought, “but what would make a woman willingly marry a vampire in the first place?” So I added the prologue to give that little glimpse into the history that led to the book’s actual characters being in the situations they were in. But that is my only book that has a prologue so far.

In general, I think that prologues, while they will never go away completely, are rather out of fashion. I can’t even remember any books off the top of my head that I have read in the last five years that have a prologue or epilogue. I might have read books that have them, but they didn’t stand out enough for me to remember any by name.

What about you? Do you like to read or write prologues/epilogues? Let me know in the comments.